Attorney General Ken Paxton today joined Louisiana, which filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in support of Alabama’s law preventing inhumane abortion methods. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that states have an interest in protecting the inherent dignity of human life, including unborn life. Gruesome abortion practices, the 22-state coalition argues in its friend-of-the-court brief, may be regulated in the interest of fostering respect for human life and protecting the integrity of the medical profession.

At issue in the case are “dismemberment” abortions, where a fetus is killed by tearing it limb from limb while still alive, and allowing the unborn victim to bleed to death in its mother’s womb. The method of abortion, currently being performed in some clinics around the nation, compromises respect for human life and acceptable medical ethics.

“It is a solemn day when we must fight not for human life, but for the minimum respect owed to human life in an already difficult situation,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Dismemberment methods of abortion are callous, cold and demonstrate a complete lack of respect for human life. In a country where the horror of abortion has already become normalized, if this practice goes unregulated, the balance between women’s reproductive rights and the risk of devaluing human life will be scattered to the wind.”

Besides Alabama, states that have enacted laws banning dismemberment abortions are Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and West Virginia. The Texas Legislature is currently considering legislation like the statute at issue in the amicus brief, namely Senate Bill 415 and House Bill 844.